How to chose a kit house?

[user143677433]

For the last 10+ years we have thought about building on a 1/3 acre plot that we have.

The two things that put me off are

(A) the plot really doesn’t look big enough to build anything on, but having looked through plenty of properly listings 1/3 acre should be plenty big enough for a good size house and garden

(B) (and this is the biggie) there seems to be FAR too much choice and I find the idea of getting started really overwhelming!

Any advice from anyone who has embarked on this journey? I think part of the problem is I don’t actually care that much. If there was almost any house of the right size built on the plot already then we would probably be happy with it.

But then ... we do have requirements and restrictions - biggish rooms, large windows, probably restricted to 1.5 stories, slightly sloping plot which is also long and thin ....

How do I get started without it turning into a full time job? I really just want to pick a house from a catalogue, tweak it a little, and have it built.

• choose 🤦‍♀️

Clearly even my subconscious wishes this was something we had already completed.

Where in the country are you? It sounds like a trip to the National Self-Build and Renovation Centre could help you. It's in Swindon.

Potton do what you want, in terms of picking a standard house then tweaking, I am sure there are lots of others too.

That plot size is more than big enough, but I appreciate if it’s long and thin it probably feels smaller.

We are in Germany and about to build our own house. We looked into a lot of kit houses but have eventually decided to build with an architect instead. The quality of kit houses is however very good. The Germans are market leaders and I would go for a German company that operates in the UK - the quality will be much better and it will cut down on the number of providers to consider! Some of the best I would say (but also most expensive) are Weberhaus, Baufritz and Huf. With all of them you can build bespoke houses but it’s much cheaper and quicker to do what you want - pick one you like out of a catalogue and tweak it a bit. Are you limited by planning to the 1.5 stories? That shouldn’t be an issue as there are plenty of houses built on that basis by those firms. And as you have a big plot it shouldn’t cause too much of a problem as you can have a bigger footprint to make up for the loss of square footage upstairs. You will also see plenty of houses by these companies with big windows!

How sloping is the site? If it’s substantial it may make sense to build a cellar, but cellars obviously increase costs massively.

My parents have 1/3 acres plot. They have a 5 bed all double, two master sized. It's plenty of room for something very decent (but I imagine it's hard to gauge when your looking at an empty plot) . Theirs is almost like a bungalow or a chalet shape, with an upstairs, so not tall nor particularly beautiful but functional and future prove.

Ohhh, I have serious envy.

I would encourage you to consider picking a non-traditional layout for UK. Look at an atrium house, https://www.huf-haus.com/en-uk/atrium-house/

I grew up in Germany in a house very like this and it was amazing. The atrium can provide you will a garden space which is entirely private, overlooked only by the rooms in the house. You could absolutely make it work in a long, think plot.

Good luck.

We’re in Scotland, so getting to Swindon in 2021 would be covid-dependent.

Potton look interesting - I will have a browse.

I would love a huf haus but I seem to remember them being very expensive. This probably isn’t going to be our forever house - more just for next 10 years. I’ll definitely look into it though because I have already fallen in love with some of the houses on the site. That atrium house if gorgeous. I’ll take a look at the other brands suggested too.

It feels strange to hear people refer to it as a big plot because it feels like you could barely fit a shed on it. It’s about 20m x 60m, with the only entrance to the plot (and the best view) at the narrow point. Really helpful to get some reference to other houses on similar size plots though.

Our budget is between £600k-£800k all-in, and we’re hoping for upwards of 200 square meters plus a garage.

I really, really don’t want it to turn into a grand designs style debacle and would love to move in within a year.

Your timings may be optimistic. I don't know what things are like for individuals at the moment but my work involves tendering development projects for local authorities and housing associations and we are struggling to get enough contractors to do the work because they are all so busy. You may have to factor in quite a bit of waiting time in addition to build time. Also planning is extremely slow atm due to Covid.

We’re building on a much smaller plot - 850 sqm. Land prices are insane where we live though and here it’s often said that you need a 600sqm plot for a detached house and yours is double that!

With that budget Huf could be an option, assuming they don’t have a completely different pricing policy for the UK. I had quotes for a 220 sqm house with pitched roof for approx 600,000 EUR. That excludes groundwork and foundations but otherwise includes everything except lighting, kitchen and landscaping. That would be the starting price though, so once you start changing things and upgrading flooring, bathrooms etc then the price can start to escalate quickly!

Scotland? Narrow plot? Limited to 1.5 storey? I’d consider Hebridean Homes. Modern, simple stylish design, eco friendly etc. Worth looking at their site maybe.

www.hebhomes.com/

That’s helpful to know about timings.

Thanks for the comparative budget too.

And hebhomes - I had looked at their site and got quite carried away looking at one ... until I priced it up all the way to the end and the initial £120k price quickly turned into £800k . They do look nice though.

A third of an acre is plenty big enough for a decent sized house.

We self built ours on a half acre site and we have a massive garden. It was a fairly simple project for us. I drew what we wanted on a piece of paper then got an architectural technician to draw up the plans. Once we got planning permission we got a timber frame manufacturer to put the kit together and a builder to do the rest. It took a stressful year from start to finish, but was so worth it.

DParents built a Scandia Hus following the process you described - catalogue, tweaks, build. It arrived flat-packed from Sweden and was assembled with panels complete with triple-glazed windows. Went up really fast, and was super-insulated. Their plans look a bit swankier than they used to be though!!
Scandia Hus

I’ve also seen Dan wood homes recommended in here in the past, they have some lovely designs and offer a turnkey option.

www.dan-wood.co.uk/en/projects